BlackBerry wins Mformation Technologies patent infringement case

BlackBerry has now laid to rest what is possibly one of their longest legal battles. Back in 2008, Mformation sued at the time RIM, for violation of remote device management patents held by Mformation Technologies on BlackBerry smartphones asking for $8 for each of the accounted 18.4M BlackBerry smartphones sold for a grand total of $147.2M.

Initially, Mformation won. That was overturned and BlackBerry appealed and then they won and as we noted back in August of 2012, Mformation decided once again to appeal the verdict holding it over for many years. That all came to a close on Friday though as Judge Edward M. Chen's ruling found that "substantial evidence" did not support a judgment of infringement. Speaking on the matter in an email to the Financial Post, A spokeswoman for BlackBerry noted.

[Friday's] verdict follows a series of successful litigation victories, underscoring BlackBerry's continued effort to fight against meritless claims. We look forward to a time when technology companies will no longer be forced to spend huge amounts of time and money defending frivolous patent cases such as these, and instead invest their resources to drive innovation.

That's a lot of years to be arguing in court so it's nice to see it finally laid to rest and with BlackBerry coming out on top. That's $147.2M saved that can be better spent elsewhere.

It's not a saving if it's a fine. It's money you do not need to spend. Litigation is part of the business expenses unfortunately. Companies get sue all the time. By not defending it's like admitting guilt and may cost more than just money for a company like BlackBerry. Losing might hinder the development and sales of company's products and services.

......i wanna know more about the $99 an hour in the earlier post, that reminds me I have this Nigerian guy I met online that I need to send $5000 to get my share of $1000,000,000 that is unclaimed.......

Other than in 'small claims' cases, the losing party in court proceedings will normally be ordered to pay costs.
Except in limited circumstances where only fixed costs are awarded, the court or an arbitrator has full discretion to decide which party should pay costs to an opponent and as to the amount of costs payable. There are various factors that will lead to the recovery of costs,including the complexity of the case, conduct of the parties during the matter ,whether the nature of the case tantamount to frivolity etc ,etc. I'm sure BlackBerry will seek the costs recovery.

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